Canada's Rugby Sevens Team Ready to Challenge the World's Best in Delhi

Canada's Rugby Sevens Commonwealth Games Team

(October 10, 2010) The Canadian Rugby Sevens team spent the morning going through their Captain’s Run, a rugby tradition to get acquainted with their Commonwealth Games competition home at Delhi University. Each of the sixteen teams in the rugby tournament are allocated some time prior to the start of competition to get a feel for the pitch, check out the locker rooms and punt the ball around with their game spikes so when they get going for real on Monday, they’ll feel right at home.

It’ll be all business right from the get-go as Canada’s first game is against a formidable foe – the 3-time defending Commonwealth Games champion “All Blacks” from New Zealand, who are yet to lose a match at the Commonwealth Games dating back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998 when rugby sevens was first introduced in the Games program.

“We’ve played the Kiwis quite a few times in the past. They’re obviously one of the top teams on the circuit so it’s going to be a tough one tomorrow for sure. But we’ve prepared well this week and I think we can give them a run for their money,” said Justin Mensa-Coker (Vancouver, BC), one of the team’s veterans.

The competition will continue to test a young Canadian squad with a feisty team from Scotland and the Caribbean champions from Guyana as their other pool opponents on Monday. Focus will be an important element in the Canadians' game as only the top two teams in each pool will advance to the medal playdowns on Tuesday.

Head Coach Geraint John likes his team’s chances, “We’ve had an excellent week of training from a coaching perspective. We played some good games against three quality teams - England, the World Champions from Samoa, and Uganda. I think the 5-6 days of training in the elements here in Delhi has really prepared the team.”

With 7 of the top 10 rugby nations in the world in Delhi, this young Canadian squad has the opportunity to play against most of the world’s best but as Coach John suggests, “I think the lads are ready to surprise some people.”

For more information on Team Canada at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, visit www.commonwealthgames.ca. If you’re interested in learning more about rugby in Canada, visit www.rugbycanada.ca.